Stealing Flowers by Edward St Amant Page A

with her big happy brown eyes. “Lots and lots of
faith. The more faith, the clearer the path. Jesus gives everyone
the gift of faith.”
    I nodded almost imperceptibly, agreeing
completely that Jesus did just that, but I didn’t want to appear to
choose one path over the other. I hadn’t detected any friction in
the household over it, but there was clearly disagreement. That
night during my second sleep, as I held Sally, I asked her what I
should do.
    “We can go flying first,” she answered. “Mom
won’t mind, but then we should go to church with Una and her. Una
doesn’t believe in the Catholic Jesus, but she still goes to church
with mom. We’re Catholics, but not Dad or Una. Dad doesn’t believe
in God. Una doesn’t believe in the Pope.”
    “I don’t know the Pope,” I said, “but I know
Jesus. He comes to me in my dreams.”
    “Why is your thing always hard when your in
bed with me?” she asked.
    “Because I love you.” This seemed to satisfy
her and she kissed me on the mouth. “It’s supposed to go inside a
girl when you love her,” I added.
    “Don’t do that. It would hurt.”
    The last thing I wanted was to hurt her, and
besides, Lloyd had told me that splashing inside a girl makes
babies, so this answer didn’t bother me at all. “I won’t,” I
whispered and kissed her again.
    The next morning, Stan took us flying. After
lift-off, he let Sally take the stick while he found his place in
the book of aviation, Power of Flight.
    “The hardest part in learning to fly is
judging speed,” he read aloud. “At first it seems hard to know.
Knots Calibrated Airspeed for instance is speed graduated to equal
knots true airspeed. Knots Indicated Airspeed shown on the KIAS
speed indicator is speed expressed in knots. Maneuvering speed,
maximum-flap extended speed, maximum structural cruising speed,
never exceed speed, stalling speed, best rate of climb speed, all
indicate different operational speeds. Although you should know how
the demonstrated crosswind velocity of the plane and the nautical
miles per gallon interplay, with practice, it all takes on a life
of its own. You’ll acquire a sense of wind force, how it interacts
with speed, fuel, and maneuverability. With practice, you’ll always
know where you sit in these regards while piloting the craft.”
    Stan read for a few minutes more and then
Sally and I traded places. The sensation of flying a plane is
exceptional. With Sally, Una, Mr. Vondt, Stan, and Mary, my life
had already become a fairy tale. Added to that, the mansion, my
room, organized baseball games, swimming lessons, and a promised
credit card, it was a complete disconnection with my old life.
Flying definitely put it over the top. It was a feeling of power
and freedom, of being above the world, of being in control and of
being in a dream.
    Before me, there were fifty or so system
indicators, markers, or lights on the instrument panel. I had
memorized them all, even the unimportant ones like the cigar
lighter and ashtray. I knew in my heart, Stan was enormously
impressed. Sally had overheard a conversation between him and Una
with respect to my progress in swimming, flying, education, and so
forth.
    “We’ve hit the jackpot in that boy,” Stan
had said.
    I didn’t know what kind of pot that was, but
Sally said it was a valuable one.
    We flew over Long Island to Rhode Island,
then I flew over the Long Island Sound on the way back. The water
was calm and quiet. A few sails were out and they appeared to be
anchored and unmoving. After we arrive home, we went to mass with
Una and Mary. The Catholic Church was enormous and there were
paintings everywhere. One painting of Jesus with his heart outside
his body circled by shining light captivated me. He looked exactly
as he did in my dreams. The choir music during the mass swept me
away in prayer. I talked to Jesus and asked him to guide my life.
The tall lean robed priest at the front of the altar held up the
chalice with great